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Defense: Gov’t suppressed evidence in Blackwater

Associated Press
8:23 a.m. EDT July 28, 2014

FILE - This Sept. 25, 2007 file photo shows an Iraqi traffic policeman inspecting a car destroyed by a Blackwater security detail in al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad, Iraq. Former Blackwater security guard Matthew Murphy and now-indicted ex-colleague Paul Slough were friends, having survived the war in Iraq together, creating a bond that under different circumstances might have lasted a lifetime. But from the witness stand in the Blackwater criminal trial this week, Murphy testified that he saw Slough fire at least two grenades into a car where a woman and her son died, two of the victims in the deaths of 14 Iraqis on Sept. 16, 2007 in downtown Baghdad. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File)(Photo: Khalid Mohammed, AP)

WASHINGTON – Lawyers for Blackwater security guards accused the government on Monday of suppressing evidence favorable to defendants who are on trial in the killings of 14 Iraqis in Nisoor Square in Baghdad.

The attorneys say the suppressed evidence consists of photographs of eight spent shell casings that would fit an AK-47 — the weapon of choice used by insurgents as well as Iraqi authorities.

A court filing by the defense attorneys says the photographs were taken by a U.S. Army captain and that they never saw the light of day until federal prosecutors turned them over last Wednesday.

The photos could become an important part of the case. They could bolster the accounts of the security guards, who say they were being fired upon by insurgents and that the guards were simply returning fire.

“The government has suppressed, for seven years, evidence in its possession that is plainly exculpatory on the central disputed issue” in the case, the defense lawyers said in a court filing. “Had they possessed these photos, defendants would have made them a central focus during opening statements as evidence of incoming fire. Defendants also would have used this evidence to cross-examine at least four witnesses who have already testified” and who are not subject to being recalled because they have returned to Iraq.

The defense attorneys are asking that they be allowed to explain to the jurors in the case why they are just hearing now about the new evidence.

According to the court filing, Army Capt. Peter Decareau was one of the first Americans to arrive at the Nisoor Square crime scene, where he took photos, including two of a group of eight AK-47 shells on the ground behind a bus stop. On Oct. 12, 2007, Decareau turned over to the FBI a CD of the crime scene photos.

In their court papers, the defense lawyers for the Blackwater guards say a prior team of prosecutors in 2008 and 2009 “withheld Decareau’s photographs of the AK-47 shells.”

On Feb. 13, 2009, the government told the defense lawyers that it was providing over 3,700 photographs of the crime scene.

“Despite specifically identifying … a series of ‘U.S. Army photos of crime scene,’ this production did not include Decareau’s photographs of the AK-47 casings at the bus stop,” the defense court filing states.

It says that “it appears that the current trial team of prosecutors only recently learned of these photos, and that they turned them over promptly.”